Winter. Colder months and shorter days. This season often triggers many of us to retreat indoors for a few months. It’s also a time where there always seems to be a bit more sickness around. Say hello to colds and sore throats.

Drinking heaps of water may not be at the top of your mind but you want to stay healthy you’ll need to keep up with the magic eight glasses a day.

If you are looking for some filtered water inspiration to get away from plain filtered water, we’ve teamed up with Made by Fressko who have some great recipes to try with your WFA inline water filter. Some of these are just perfect for the winter months because as well as tasting great, they also have some awesome health benefits.

Rose & Thyme Water for Sore Throats and Mood Boosting

Thyme isn’t always on top of everyone’s list but it’s got some great proven health benefits, especially during the winter months. Thyme is great for sore throats and for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Thyme contains carvacrol which has mood boosting effects too. Always good if you’re feeling the winter blues.

Rose petal water goes right back to Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt and it’s thought to contain heaps of vitamins. Ancient Egyptians drank rose water for great skin, helping with sore throats and to fight depression.

You’ll need:

• 4 Rose buds. Dried or Fresh
• 1 Small handful of fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 tsp Honey ( optional )

Method

Add rose and thyme ( and honey, if using ) to flask.
Pop in the short filter (supplied by Fressko) and fill flask with filtered water.
Allow 5 minutes to infuse. Enjoy.

Apple and Cinnamon Water for an Immunity Booster

This infused water recipe is full of flavour and boasts the health benefits of Cinnamon. Cinnamon is another spice that goes back to Ancient Egypt. It’s loaded with antioxidants, boasts anti-inflammatory properties and is thought to lower blood sugar levels. This one is a perfect winter immunity booster.

You’ll need:

• 1/2 Red Lady Apple, sliced
• 2 x Cinnamon Sticks, broken
• Filtered water to fill

Method

Add the sliced apple and cinnamon to the flask.
Pop in the short filter (supplied by Fressko)
Fill with filtered water.
Allow to infuse.

Passion Fruit Cocktail or Mocktail

If you are looking for a fun twist on traditional cocktails why not try this passion fruit drink with filtered water. You can add a dash of vodka or coconut liqueur as a classy cocktail or just make it as a healthy mocktail.

Passionfruit is a fruit full of Vitamin C and so packed full of antioxidants to boost your immunity.

It also has iron which increases haemoglobin in red blood cells. There’s also Vitamins B6 and B3 to help regulate thyroid activity.

You’ll need:

• The pulp from two passion fruits
• Filtered Water
• Handful of Mint ( torn )
• Ice

Method

Scoop the pulp from two passion fruits
Tear up a handful of fresh mint
Add to flask
Fill with filtered water and ice
Allow to infuse.

For another handy tip, fill your ice trays with filtered water straight from your inline water filter to make sure all your drinks taste great.

12 hr cold coffee recipe

Ok so this one isn’t strictly a health recipe but who doesn’t love coffee? And did you know that using filtered water to make your coffee makes all the difference to the taste! This is a great recipe for all the coffee lovers out there.

You’ll need:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons Freshly Ground Coffee (should be the consistency of raw sugar)
• 250ml Cold Filtered Water
• 300ml Jar
• Fressko flask & top tea infuser attachment.
• 1 tsp maple syrup

Method

Add ground coffee and cold water to the jar. Agitate or lightly stir the water making sure all grounds are wet. Place in fridge for 12hrs or up to 24hrs for strong coffee.
Remove from fridge and strain into your Fressko flask using the top tea infuser attachment to sieve or catch any ground coffee as you pour.

Once strained remove tea infuser attachment as discard coffee grounds. Add one teaspoon of organic maple syrup to sweeten, attached lid, agitate and enjoy.

The key to success

Of course the key to the success of all these recipes is filtered water and the best way to filter water is by using a WFA inline water filter.

All recipes have been kindly supplied by Made by Fressko. Fressko flasks are a great way to prepare these filtered water recipes. And Fressko has a special offer on their entire range especially for WFA friends.

Read more about the promotional offer and get the special promo code.

Enjoy these filtered water recipes and if you have a favourite, let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Remember to drink plenty of filtered water this winter and stay healthy!

Plastic is a problem. There’s no denying it. Especially single-use plastic water bottles.

According to a recent Guardian article – ‘a million plastic water bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021.’ That’s a staggering amount of plastic.

It begs the question. Why? Again the Guardian states,

“The demand, equivalent to about 20,000 bottles being bought every second, is driven by an apparently insatiable desire for bottled water and the spread of a western, urbanised ‘on the go’ culture to China and the Asia Pacific region.”

Sadly only a fraction of these water bottles are recycled and most of them end up in landfill. And worse still, they can take up to 1000 years to break down!

According to Clean Up Australia, 10 per cent of rubbish found on Clean Up Australia Day was related to bottled water.

Protecting our Oceans

The extent of the plastic problem was recently featured in the BBC’s 2017 ‘Blue Planet II’. Sir David Attenborough highlighted the plastic problem  with a haunting message to viewers…

“For years we thought our oceans were so vast that nothing we could do could have an effect but now we know that was wrong. It’s now clear that our actions are having a significant impact on the world’s oceans. Plastic has become an integral part of our daily lives but every year some 8 million tonnes of it ends up in the ocean and there it can be lethal.

We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet. And never before have we had the power to do something about that. Surely we have a responsibility to care for our Blue Planet. The future of humanity and indeed all life on earth now depends on us.”

(Direct quote from Sir David Attenborough, ‘Blue Planet II – 2017’)

The series also featured researchers explaining how Albatross ingest plastic bags, food packaging and plastic toothpicks – all of which can be lethal to the birds.

Another staggering recent discovery was the 18 tonnes of plastic found on a remote coral atoll, Henderson in the South Pacific. This island has been dubbed, “the most polluted, most remote island in the whole world”  Here, even the hermit crabs have resorted to making plastic bottle tops their home!

According to recent research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, they estimate,
“Between 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish.”

So what can we do to help?

A simple solution is to choose to refuse single-use plastic water bottles. Not just for #plasticfreejuly but forever.

We’ve seen the big supermarkets banning the plastic bag. Now it’s time to give up the bottled water habit, there are plenty of reasons, as we’ve discussed in a previous blog.

A  real way to make a difference is to choose a reusable water bottle or flask and fill it up with filtered water from an inline water filter.

You’ll save money, cut down on landfill waste, reduce your eco-footprint and protect the ocean.

About Fressko flasks

For the month of July in support of #plasticfreejuly WFA has teamed up with the water flask company, Made by Fressko.

Fressko’s philosophy is simple…

‘Be kind to mother earth, to others, and to yourself.’

Why Fressko?

WFA and Fressko have similar values – high quality products that are built to last.

“Fressko flasks are a sustainable, reusable alternative to plastic, rubber or paper take-away cups. The flasks are designed in Melbourne, Australia and are responsibly made in China using only 100% BPA Free materials, including bamboo which is sourced from the mountains of Ningbo.” www.madebyfressko.com

The glass flasks are made from BPA-free double-walled glass, so you’ll never have to worry about chemical leaching, flask discolouring or flavour tainting like you would with cheaper materials. They are highly durable and will last a long time.

A Special Offer for WFA friends

Fressko has kindly offered all our WFA customers 20% OFF their reusable flasks for the month of July and August. So there has never been a better time to make a difference to the environment and enjoy fresh, great tasting filtered water from a reusable bottle.

There’s also a great variety of water flasks to choose from with the colour collection and the original collection. Choose a colour collection stainless steel flask with glass lining and it will keep your filtered water hot for 6 hours and cold for 12 hours. Or the original collection glass or bamboo water flask with insulated glass and a 2 in 1 filter / infuser ideal for tea or infused drinks.

Just head to the Fressko website, choose your favourite water flask, add to cart and use the promotional code WFA20 on their website. Be quick, offer ends on 31st August 2018.

We’ll also be featuring some more filtered water recipes inspired by Fressko throughout July.

Check out our Instagram and Facebook page for more ideas on how to use your WFA filtered water in a Fresso flask.

We would love to see how you use yours, please send us your photos or post to Facebook or Instagram and tag us @waterfiltersaustralia.

There’s never been a better time to switch to a reusable water bottle… and if you need to update your inline water filter system or replace a water filter cartridge contact us today.